Rapping White Liberals are not going to save democracy

Just when you thought the Liberal Democrats couldn't get any more embarrassing, they come up with an activist -Â Councillor Allan Witherick of Hertfordshire County Council – who is rapping an election video aimed at the yoof.

Only a Lib Dem could have thought of this. Join the roll-call of shame, Allan. This is the party that boasts Dr Evan Harris, Shirley Williams (aka the woman who stole your education) and Lembit Opik among its luminaries. It's also a party that has a long history of fighting dirty, from smearing Peter Tatchell (though their own candidate in Bermondsey, Simon Hughes, was in the closet) to using anti-Semitic language with Muslim voters in the East End.

Admittedly, this is silly, not sinister. My initial feeling is that on a venn diagram showing a circle of people concerned about Hertfordshire Council wasting taxpayer's money, and another of people who like hip-hop, especially performed by local government officials, the intersection is going to be pretty small. If you explained the Common Agricultural Policy in Haiku you'd have a bigger audience.

But then there is a wider societal failure at work.Â Last month, police in Tiverton, Devon, allowed local youths to graffiti the police station in a desperate attempt to make the kids like them. Dumbing down isn't just about making things easier to understand â€“ it's also a sign of cultural cringe. History and school and Shakespeare and politics and council tax are all boring, innit, so why don't we make it more "relevant" by translating it into street patois? Maybe the kids will take an interest but, more important, I will feel less ashamed about being white, middle-class and not very tough or streetwise.

It's born out of fear: if they let us graffiti the police station, they won't misbehave; if we "give young people something to do", as Cllr Witherick says, or raps, they won't commit crime. (One wit has dubbed this policy "Duwaynegeld".)

Unsurprisingly, the reaction it provokes is not civility and emotional growth, but contempt for adult society, contempt for education â€“ and, most of all, contempt for the Liberal Democrats. Join the club.